44 min: A couple of daft penalties to concede. And now Chelsea are rocking. Gakpo’s long-distance drive is clawed away by Penders; Ngumoha’s shot from a tight angle on the left is deflected over for a corner …

Pre-match postbag. “I’m loving the balance of experience and youth in the Liverpool starting XI. Jürgen had Klopp’s kids. Arne could have rolled out Slot’s Snappers more often. Today we’ve got Iraola’s Imps!” – Peter Oh

“Looking at the Liverpool line-up, I can only think that Iraola has decided not to risk the prospect of drawing the mighty Fleetwood Town in the next round” – Vanessa Edwards

“For the sake of the integrity of the Carabao Cup I think we are all Brighton fans tonight. If City stay in the competition and then lose their appeal (almost inevitable) then how on earth does that get resolved?” – Rick Harris

“Anfield is nine miles from where I currently slouch and I can feel the anticipation from here. Something might just be afoot. Hope? Hendo also returns. But am glad he has scored his one cracker for the season already” – Ian Copestake (and readers who enjoy making speculative investments may be interested to note that, now Ian’s said that, you can get 28s on Henderson scoring the first goal tonight)

Liverpool make seven changes to their starting XI following the 2-0 win at the weekend over Brighton. Giorgi Mamardashvili, Joe Gomez, Kostas Tsimikas, Trey Nyoni, James McConnell, Lewis Koumas and Rio Ngumoha are in; Alisson, Jérémy Jacquet, Florian Wirtz, Alexis Mac Allister, Bradley Barcola and Alexander Isak drop to the bench, while Milos Kerkez misses out altogether.

Liverpool: Mamardashvili, Gomez, van Dijk, Araujo, Tsimikas, Gravenberch, Nyoni, Ngumoha, McConnell, Gakpo, Koumas.
Subs: Alisson, Endo, Jacquet, Wirtz, Isak, Mac Allister, Chiesa, Barcola, Chambers.

Chelsea: Penders, Gusto, Lacroix, Fofana, Acheampong, Henderson, Caicedo, Lavia, Pedro Neto, Welbeck, Rogers.
Subs: Sharman-Lowe, Colwill, Subuloye, Palestra, Barco, Nicoll-Jazuli, Estevao, Quenda, Emegha.